


Moved

by MixolydianGrey



Category: Aubrey-Maturin Series - Patrick O'Brian
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-10
Updated: 2013-10-10
Packaged: 2017-12-28 23:53:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/998398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MixolydianGrey/pseuds/MixolydianGrey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stephen muses on the limitations of anatomical knowledge.  Written using a prompt from my friend Mary Dell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Moved

Stephen knew everything that was known about that complicated organ, the heart: the veins and vessels wreathing it, the muscled chambers, all the details of the pumping carousel at the hub of the bright rivers that served the body. Stephen knew all about how the heart moved. 

But Jack knew how to move hearts, and by moving them, to move men and causes and great events.

Stephen could tell you everything about how his own heart moved. But why his heart moved? Yes, he could tell you that too, and the answer took but four words: it followed Jack Aubrey. 

Nor had following Jack Aubrey been without cost. The prices that were mere money bothered him not a whit; who doesn't welcome the chance to surprise an old friend with just the right gift? He could list other prices paid over the years, but thinking on certain ones risked causing old wounds to pain him, so he refrained from taking detailed inventory. But no matter the cost, when Jack called, Stephen's heart responded.

"Eppure si muove," he said out loud, startling the current sloth. Stephen clapped on his periwig, askew as usual, and went forth to meet his friend.


End file.
